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"Get out here... I came for Whitebeard's head!"
Ace roared, his battered body a testament to his defiance.
He howled like a wild animal, dragging everyone's attention onto himself.
Whitebeard ignored him. He swung his naginata again.
The flying slash shot past Ace, aimed at the crewmates behind him.
"Aaargh!"
Deuce and the others scrambled to dodge but were still sent flying by the shockwave.
"You—!"
"Fire Wall!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A towering wall of flame erupted behind Ace.
The inferno churned the air, blocking the force of Whitebeard's attack.
"Captain!"
"Captain Ace! What are you doing??"
From the other side of the flames, his crew's desperate cries reached him.
The wall of fire blocked their path, preventing them from coming to his aid.
"Get out of here! Run!" Ace screamed.
Whitebeard watched, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
"What's this...? Scared now, are you?"
"All that big talk, and now you turn tail and run?"
He sounded almost disappointed.
"Leave my crew out of this..." Ace shot back, his eyes burning with fury. "In exchange, I won't run. Not an inch."
He was their captain.
This fight was his alone.
At Ace's words, the legendary pirate Edward Newgate—a man who seemed more myth than mortal—showed a flicker of genuine human emotion for the first time.
Now this was interesting.
A slow smile spread across Whitebeard's face.
He'd always had a soft spot for young men with fire in their bellies.
"You've got some nerve, kid..."
Ace charged, leaping high into the air as flames exploded from his body.
"WUUUAAAAAAH!"
He threw a colossal fist of fire.
DOOM!
Whitebeard threw a punch of his own. With nothing but raw physical power, he extinguished Ace's flames and sent him flying.
Ace, already at the end of his rope, staggered back to his feet.
For his crew.
To protect the Spade Pirates he loved.
He pushed himself up with the last dregs of his strength.
He had his pride.
Ace would rather burn himself to ash than run.
If he ran now, even if he escaped, he would be branded a coward for the rest of his life. And he could never surpass the name of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, like that.
"Gurararara... You can still stand?" Whitebeard chuckled.
'If I run, the Whitebeard Pirates will hunt us down... My crew will be in danger. I can't back down. I have to take Edward Newgate's head, right here, right now.' Ace thought.
"It'd be a waste to let you die here, kid."
"A waste?" Ace didn't understand.
But the meaning behind the words hit him like a physical blow.
Rage.
'He's looking down on me...'
That, Ace understood perfectly.
"If you're still determined to cause trouble, then do it on these seas," Whitebeard declared, extending a hand to the defeated young pirate. "Do it under my name."
"Be my son."
HUHHHHH??
Ace's mind went blank.
Then, the blood rushed to his head.
He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit.
Was this man treating him like a child?
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!"
Ace had challenged Whitebeard. And he'd been beaten to a pulp.
A complete and utter defeat.
He couldn't even remember how he'd lost.
It was like... having his skull caved in by a force beyond comprehension. If there was such a thing as a "Fist of Love" in this world... that had to be it.
Finally, the reality of it all crashed down on him.
Again.
He'd lost...
———————————————
"Captain!"
"Captain Ace...!"
Deuce and the others rushed forward to help their unconscious captain, but another gust of wind from Whitebeard's naginata sent them sprawling.
The Division Commanders then leaped from the Moby Dick and apprehended them all.
"Hey, Jinbe! You still kicking?"
Marco, in his phoenix form, was using his flames of resurrection to heal the Warlord.
Jinbe opened his eyes. He saw Whitebeard, sitting there like a king, letting out his signature "Gurararara" laugh.
Ace was lying at his feet.
"Pops..." Jinbe sat up, catching his breath.
"Thanks for everything, Jinbe."
"No, don't mention it," Jinbe said, quickly waving his hands. He looked at Ace. "This one... I'd like to ask you to spare his life, Pops. I know it's not my place to interfere, but... he's a fine young man. Just a bit too reckless."
Whitebeard grinned. "I'm interested in him too, Jinbe."
———————————————
Night. Darkness.
A young Ace walked alone through the streets of the Goa Kingdom.
"Roger?"
"If Gol D. Roger ever had a kid, they should execute him, too."
"No one wants that bloodline to continue. It's for the best."
"Hey, how about for every person in the world who hates Roger, we stab his effigy with a needle?"
"Burn him at the stake! Make his final moments a laughingstock for the whole world!"
They spoke in the most venomous of terms, their words a curse.
"He got what he deserved! Hahaha!"
Ace watched, his expression blank.
Who could possibly imagine...
That for Portgas D. Ace, to be born was a crime. To simply exist was a trial that wore his soul to the bone.
Back on Mt. Colubo, even the mountain bandits had a hard time dealing with him. Every time he went into town, he'd get into a knife fight.
"What the hell were you doing in town, Ace??"
"I heard some kid nearly killed one of the local thugs! It's all over the place!"
Dadan and the other bandits would yell.
"Shut up!"
"If I was strong enough, I'd have killed them all!"
Ace would glare at them all with pure hatred.
No one knew who his father was.
But just by being alive, he felt as if everyone he met was judging him.
It was as if the world itself was screaming at him: Die, son of Roger. Die.
This garbage life, living off the charity of mountain bandits... it was worse than having no food or care at all.
As he grew older, old enough not just to live, but to think about death...
Ace's resentment grew stronger. Not a day went by that he didn't think about his father.
If the world ever found out...
He was sure that even his closest friends would abandon him.
So, from the very beginning, he never intended to get close to anyone.
'If it hadn't been for Sabo... and for Luffy, that damn crybaby of a little brother... I wouldn't have even wanted to keep living.'
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